2015-06244. Radiation Protection

AGENCY:

Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION:

Advance notice of proposed rulemaking; extension of comment period.

SUMMARY:

On July 25, 2014, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) published for comment an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) to obtain input from members of the public on the development of a draft regulatory basis. The draft regulatory basis would identify potential changes to the NRC's current radiation protection regulations. The potential changes, if implemented, would achieve a closer alignment between the NRC's radiation protection regulations and the recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) contained in ICRP Publication 103 (2007). The NRC is extending the comment period for the ANPR to provide additional time for members of the public to develop and submit their comments.

DATES:

The comment period has been extended and expires on June 22, 2015. Comments received after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC is able to ensure consideration only for comments received on or before this date.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments by any of the following methods (unless this document describes a different method for submitting comments on a specific subject):

• Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2009-0279. Address questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: [phone]; email: [e-mail]. For technical questions, contact the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document.
• Email comments to: [e-mail]. If you do not receive an automatic email reply confirming receipt, then contact us at 301-415-1677.
• Fax comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at 301-415-1101.
• Mail comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff.
• Hand deliver comments to: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. (Eastern Time) Federal workdays; telephone: [phone].

For additional direction on obtaining information and submitting comments, see “Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments” in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Cardelia Maupin, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: [phone]; email: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2009-0279 when contacting the NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You may obtain publicly-available information related to this document by any of the following methods:

• Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2009-0279.
• NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the ADAMS Public Documents collection at http://www.nrc.gov/​reading-rm/​adams.html. To begin the search, select “ADAMS Public Documents” and then select “Begin Web-based ADAMS Search.” For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by email to [e-mail]. The ANPR document is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML14183B023.
• NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.

B. Submitting Comments

Please include Docket ID NRC-2009-0279 in your comment submission.

The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact information that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your comment submission. The NRC will post all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as enter the comment submissions into ADAMS. The NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove identifying or contact information.

If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons for submission to the NRC, then you should inform those persons not to include identifying or contact information that they do not want to be publicly disclosed in their comment submission. Your request should state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove such information before making the comment submissions available to the public or entering the comment submissions into ADAMS.

II. Further Information

On July 25, 2014 (79 FR 43284), the NRC published for comment an ANPR to obtain input from members of the public on the development of a draft regulatory basis. The draft regulatory basis would identify potential changes to the NRC's current radiation protection regulations. The potential changes, if implemented, would achieve a closer alignment between the NRC's radiation protection regulations and the recommendations in ICRP Publication 103 (2007). The ANPR identifies specific questions and issues with respect to a possible revision of the NRC's radiation protection requirements. Comments, including responses to the specific questions, will be considered by the NRC staff when it develops the draft regulatory basis.

The Part 20 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) ANPR public comment period was originally scheduled to close on November 24, 2014, after a 120-day comment period. In response to several requests from members of the public received throughout November 2014, the NRC extended the public comment period on the ANPR, by an additional 120 days, to March 24, 2015 (79 FR 69065; November 20, 2014).

In response to a second request, dated February 18, 2015, from several members of the public, the NRC is now extending the public comment period by an additional 90 days. The deadline for submitting comments is now extended from March 24, 2015, to June 22, 2015.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 11th day of March 2015.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,

Laura A. Dudes,

Director, Division of Material Safety, State, Tribal and Rulemaking Programs, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.